The Big Three - The Alan Parsons Project

Finally, here we are at the last of the big three.  I've already covered the first two (Yes and Pink Floyd), so let's get into the final band that had a major impact on my childhood: The Alan Parsons Project.

Compared to the other two of my Big Three, the Alan Parsons Project is probably not as well known, but I'm sure you've come across some of their songs from time to time.  And while Yes was known for their expansive songwriting and Pink Floyd their experimentation, The Alan Parsons Project is considerably normal.  Their angle has always been about concept albums and using music to explore various ideas, ranging from literature to archaeology, and from gambling to architecture.

While the Project started out as Alan Parsons just deciding to get a bunch of session musicians and guests to work on a group musical interpretations of stories by Edgar Alan Poe, over time a band did coalesce from the first Project, bringing together Parsons's interest in keyboard's, Eric Wolfson's lyrics and vocals, and Ian Bairnson's iconic guitar work.  These days, it's Bairnson's solos that really stand out to me, as they're so simple and clean, while still being an expression of skill and character.

Like with Pink Floyd, I don't really have any concrete memories of when I started to notice The Alan Parsons Project; they just were always there.  And by the time I was paying attention to music, the Project had broken up, with Alan Parsons moving on with a solo career.  Still, those songs bring a lot of nostalgia for me.  Of the Big Three, it's The Alan Parsons Project that feels the most like home.

As for Parsons's solo career, it's been on the eclectic side.  While Try Anything Once felt like a good continuation of the Project's sound, Parsons began expanding out, picking up more electronic influences, with his last album, A Valid Path, being a strange mix of trance and rock music.  In the last fifteen years, Parsons has been content with going out on tour and playing much of the classic material from the Project years, and only just this year has there been talk of a new album.  While I don't know what to expect, the lead single does seem like a return to form.

For those interesting in getting into the Alan Parsons Project, it's actually kind of hard to recommend a single album, as all 10 are so solid.  (I admit I haven't gotten to Freudiana or The Sicilian Defense yet, but they seem to be more like spin-offs than anything else.)  For the early, more progressive rock style, the first three of Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot, and Pyramid are great works.  As for more of the later, pop-style of the Project, albums like Eye in the Sky, Ammonia Avenue, and Gaudi are probably the best albums of that style, with Turn of a Friendly Card being an excellent blend of the two styles.

So, that's the end of the Big Three.  I could certainly go on and cover other bands that I love, but I felt like these three bands deserved to be covered first because they have meant so much and will continue to mean so much to me, and they serve as a kind of foundation for my tastes in my reviews and other opinions.

In any case, I seem to be doing a pretty good job of posting stuff on this blog.  I don't know where this is going to take me, but in the mean time, I'll keep talking about great music, and hopefully you'll like the stuff I say.

Until then, rock on!  \m/